• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.52 no.6
• /
• pp.613-619
• /
• 2014

Neospora caninum (Apicomplexa; Sarcocystidae) is a protozoan that causes abortion in cattle, horses, sheep, and dogs as well as neurological and dermatological diseases in dogs. In the central nervous system of dogs infected with N. caninum, cysts were detected that exhibited gliosis and meningitis. Flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds that exhibit antibacterial, antiparasitic, antifungal, and antiviral properties. In this study, we investigated the effects of flavonoids in a well-established in vitro model of N. caninum infection in glial cell cultures. Glial cells were treated individually with 10 different flavonoids, and a subset of cultures was also infected with the NC-1 strain of N. caninum. All of the flavonoids tested induced an increase in the metabolism of glial cells and many of them increased nitrite levels in cultures infected with NC-1 compared to controls and uninfected cultures. Among the flavonoids tested, 3',4'-dihydroxyflavone, 3',4',5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone (luteolin), and 3,3',4',5,6-pentahydroxyflavone (quercetin), also inhibited parasitophorous vacuole formation. Taken together, our findings show that flavonoids modulate glial cell responses, increase NO secretion, and interfere with N. caninum infection and proliferation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.892-897
• /
• 2013

We investigated the acute toxicity from a single dose of crude anti-fungal compounds produced by Lactobacillus plantarum AF1, a lactic acid bacterium isolated from kimchi, on ICR male and female mice in vivo. The test article was orally administered once to both sexes of mice. The mortality rate, clinical findings, autopsy findings, and body weight changes were monitored daily for 14 days. In the oral acute toxicity test, male and female mice were gavaged with four doses (5, 50, 300 or 2,000 mg/kg) of the crude anti-fungal compounds. The oral $LD_{50}$ of the crude anti-fungal compounds was higher than 2,000 mg/kg. No significant changes in general conditions, body weights, clinical signs, or appearance of gross lesions were observed. In conclusion, our results suggest a low toxicity and no-adverse-effects from crude anti-fungal compounds produced by Lactobacillus plantarum AF1 up to 2,000 mg/kg via the oral route.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.255-266
• /
• 2017

Chemically derived pesticides have been used to prevent biological damage to domestic cultural property. However, their use is gradually being restricted due to the harmful effects on the human body and environment. Therefore, there is a growing interest in the search for new antifungal biopharmaceuticals whose safety has been confirmed by toxicity evaluation through animal experiments. This paper presents methods of toxicity evaluation of natural biocides using Sprague-Dawley rats and New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. Safety of the natural biocide extract of Asarum sieboldii was evaluated using single-dose oral and dermal toxicity tests in Sprague-Dawley rats, and eye and skin irritation tests in NZW rabbits. The extract has proven antimicrobial and insecticidal activities against wood-rotting fungi and termites. After single oral administration to rats, the $LD_{50}$ values were determined to be over 4,000 and 2,000 mg/kg for males and females, respectively. After single dermal administration to rats, the $LD_{50}$ values exceeded 10,000 mg/kg for both males and females. The extract was identified to be non-irritant to the rabbit eye, and only slightly irritant to the rabbit skin. In this study, we confirmed the safety of the A sieboldii extract through animal testing. Due to the harmfulness of humidifier disinfectants, focus is on the safety of chemical pesticides, and toxicity evaluation is suggested as the basic method for hazard evaluation.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.236-241
• /
• 2009

The objective of this study was to find an environment friendly method of ginseng storage disease control using a natural plant extract. Essential oil was evaluated in terms of its antifungal ability against a variety of ginseng storage pathogens, and a variety of essential oils was conducted in order to assess the possibility of applying them as a component of a disease control strategy. Direct treatment with essential oil was demonstrated to exert a ginseng storage control effect. Methyl eugenol and thymol were shown to exert a mycelial growth inhibition effect of 80% on PDA media, using a paper disc containing 200 ppm of essential oil against Botrytis cinerea. The application of direct methyl eugenol treatment to ginseng resulted in a profound control effect. Both spray and dipping treatment of each methyl eugenol as well as thymol, evidenced a disease develoment of 10-20% as compared with the over 80% observed from all non-treated packages. Methyl eugenol in the large packages resulted in a disease index of 0.60 in the two essential oil treatments and also a small diseased area, as compared with the disease index of 1.65 and the wide diseased area observed in the non-treatment groups. Treatment with a mixture (methyl eugenol + thymol) in the synergistic effect test resulted in a relatively wide diseased area, as no discernable synergistic effect was detected. Methyl eugenol and thymol can be utilized as control agents in an environmentally friendly ginseng storage treatment, owing to the avirulent and clear effects detected in this study. In particular, ginseng must be ingested when fresh, and this is why a product for the control of ginseng storage diseases is so necessary.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.879-886
• /
• 2014

This study was conducted to test in vitro the antagonistic effect of composted liquid manure (CLM) against soil-borne turfgrass pathogenic fungi, Rhizoctonia solani AG-2-2 (IIIB) (brown patch), R. solani AG-2-2 (IV) (large patch), and Sclerotinia homoeocarpa (dollar spot) for environmentally friendly turfgrass management. CLMs were collected from 9 livestock excretion treatment facilities around the country including Gunwi (GW), Hapcheon (HC), Hoengseong (HS), Icheon (IC), Iksan (IS), Muan (MA), Nonsan (NS), and Yeoju (YJ). CLMs of IC, GW, and IS showed s ignificant (p < 0.05) mycelium growth inhibition that was 17.8%, 20.4%, and 48.0% against R. solani AG-2-2 (IIIB), R. solani AG-2-2 (IV), and S. homoeocarpa, respectively. A t otal of 110 bacterial isolates were obtained from the CLMs that showed antagonistic effects. Among them, 5, 4, and 10 microbe isolates showed promising antifungal activity against mycelium growth of R. solani AG-2-2 (IIIB), R. solani AG-2-2 (IV), and S. homoeocarpa, respectively. The bacterial isolates ICIIIB60, GWIV70, and ISSH20 effectively inhibited the mycelial growth of three soil-borne turfgrass pathogens. Selected bacterial isolates were identified as Alcaligenes sp., Bacillus licheniformis Ab2, and B. subtilis C7-3 through 16s rDNA gene sequence analysis. Among 5 fungicides, the most compatible fungicide with ICIIIB60, GWIV70, and ISSH20 was tebuconazol, toclofos-methyl and toclofos-methyl, respectively. These findings suggested that CLMs could be effectively used not only as organic liquid fertilizer sources but also as biological control agents for soil-borne turfgrass diseases such as brown patch, large patch, and dollar spot.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.158-161
• /
• 2005

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia BW-13 is a potent biocontrol agent to control crisphead lettuce bottom rot caused by Rhizoctonia solani. To define the optimum conditions for the mass production of the S. maltophilia BW-13, we have investigated optimum culture conditions and effects of various carbon sources on the bacterial growth. The optimum initial pH and temperature were determined as pH $6.0\~7.0 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively. For the selection of effective carbon source for the mass production, we tested the low molecular carbon sources such as sucrose, glucose, lactose, maltose, manose and the high molecular carbon source such as dough conditioner, rice bran, corn starch, sweet potato starch. As the results, the addition of dough conditioner in a basal medium ($1.25\%\;K_{2}HPO_4,\;0.38\%\;KH_{2}PO_4,\;0.01\%\;MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_{2}O,\;0.5\%\;Yeast extract$) was able to achieve higher cell density and the antifungal activity than others. Therefore, the basal medium containing $3\%$ dough conditioner (named as dough conditioner medium) was finally selected the optimized media for the mass production of BW-13 strain.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.348-359
• /
• 2015

Total 443 isolates of actinomycetes were isolated from turfgrass rhizosphere as potential biological control agents. The two isolates (S11 and S4) showed highest cellulase activity with compared to the other isolates that exhibited a clear zone of 1.2 mm around the colony on cellulose agar medium. S12 strain appeared the most active chitin degrading, which exhibited a 1.2 mm of clear zone. The highest proteolytic activity on skim milk agar was which exhibited a 7.5 mm of clear zone by S2 strain. S1 strain from the soli showed siderophore production ability, which exhibited a 0.6 mm of large clear zone on chrome azurol S agar. The antifungal activity of the volatile compound producing by 4 selected actinomycetes was investigated that inhibition rate against Rhizoctonia solani AG2-2 and Sclerotinia homoeocarpa. Growth inhibition effect of S8 isolate against S. homoeocarpa was appeared to 94.8%, S2 to 76.9%, S5 to 46.1% and S12 to 43.5%. The significant inhibition effects on mycelial growth of S. homoeocarpa were shown on media with four strains. The inhibition effect was the highest with S8 strain treatment at 94.8%.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2016.05a
• /
• pp.13-13
• /
• 2016

Insects constitute the largest and most diverse group of animals in the world. They also serve as the hosts or nutrient sources for an immense assemblage of pathogens, parasites, and predators. More than 700 fungal species from 100 genera have adopted an entomopathogenic lifestyle. Although entomopathogenic fungi were studied as only biocontrol agents against a variety of pests in various countries, it has been recently focused their additional roles in nature. They are antagonists to/against plant pathogens, endophytes, and possibly even plant growth promoting agents. The potential antimicrobial effect against fungal plant pathogens by an isolate of entomopathogenic fungi including Beauveria bassiana, Lecanicillium spp., and Isaria fumosorosea have been reported since late 1990s, but wasn't reported pathogenicity of the isolate against pests. Later, a Canadian Lecanicillium sp. isolate and L. longisporium isolated from Vertalec$^{(R)}$ showed simultaneous control effect against both aphid and cucumber powder mildew. Therefore, the antimicrobial activities of 342 fungi isolates collected from various regions and conditions in Korea were evaluated against plant pathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea using dual culture technique on agar plate. As a result, 186 isolates (54.4%) shown the antifungal activity against B. cinerea. The culture filtrates of selected fungi completely suppressed the growth of the microorganisms, indicating that suppression was due to the presence of antimicrobial substances in the culture filtrate. Mode of action of these fungi against insect involves the attachment of conidia to the insect cuticle, followed by germination, cuticle penetration, and internal dissemination throughout the insect. During infection process, secreted enzymes, proteinous toxins, and/or secondary metabolites secreted by entomopathogenic fungi can be used to overcome the host immune system, modify host behavior, and defend host resources. Recently, secondary metabolites isolated from entomopathogenic fungi have been reported as potential bioactive substances. Generally, most of bioactive substances produced by entomopathogenic fungi have reported low molecular weight (lower than 1,000 g/mol) as peptide and, in contrast the high molecular weight fungal bioactive substances are rare. Most substances based on entomopathogenic fungi were shown antimicrobial activity with narrow control ranges. In our study we analyzed the antimicrobial substances having antagonistic effects to B. cinerea. Antimicrobial substances in our fungal culture filtrates showed high thermostability, high stability to proteolytic enzymes, and hydrophilicity and their molecular weights were differed from substance. In conclusion, entomopathogenic fungi showed pathogenicity against insect pests and culture filtrate of the fungi also shown to antimicrobial activity. In the future, we can use the entomopathogenic fungi and its secondary metabolites to control both insect pest control and plant pathogenic fungi simultaneously.

• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.173-183
• /
• 2016

Fungi are a major cause of cultural and biological degradation in museum storages and archives libraries. In addition, fungi produce toxins and can cause skin allergies. In particular, fungi coming into contact with the skin through the hands of administrators dealing with cultural properties, archives, and books can lead to secondary infections. To prevent this, applying hand sanitizer, which is readily available in the market, is recommended. However, such hand sanitizer can effectively disinfect against bacteria but not fungi. As such, researching for an alternative is required. In this study, we developed a hand sanitizer composed of active ingredients - geranial, cineol, menthol, and Chamaecyparis obtusa - and performed a disinfection test, which targets 10 kinds of species (Alternaria citrimacularis, Alternaria consortialis, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus versicolor, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Coniothyrium aleurites, Penicillium brevicompactum, Penicillium corylophilum, Penicillium paneum, and Penicillium polonicum), of fungi investigated in museums and libraries. It was then confirmed to exhibit excellent disinfecting effects. Thus, this hand sanitizer is expected to prevent skin diseases and secondary infections in administrators dealing with cultural properties, archives, and books.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.855-868
• /
• 2014

Synthetic agro-chemicals have been widely used to control diseases on paprika but these days negative attention has been increasing to use of them because of several adverse effects. This research was conducted to isolate and to characterize the antagonistic microorganism to control major paprika diseases, gray mold rot, fruit and stem rot, phytophthora blight, sclerotium rot, and wilt disease. Analysis of the fatty acid and analysis of the 16S rDNA gene sequence revealed that YKJ1 isolated in this research belongs to a group of Serratia marcescens. Specially, 16S rDNA gene sequence of YKJ1 showed 99% of sequence similarity with S. marcescens. Observation through the optical microscope revealed that YKJ1 suppressed the spore germination and the hyphal growth of pathogens. YKJ1 treatment on pathogens induced marked morphological changes like hyphal swelling and degradation of cell wall. In the case of phytophthora blight, the zoosporangium formation was restrained. S. marcescens found in this study call as S. marcescens-YKJ1 and it may be valuable as one of biological control agents against major diseases of paprika in the future even though it is require to be tested with more study on field test.